Blast of snow and ice on excellent hill day
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MY longstanding friend Bill is a bit of a Munro addict. While I was pleased enough last year to complete one round of them, Bill’s on his third.
We talked about a day out and I was a willing participant in his quest to do the two Munros above Loch Lochy. Having last climbed them way back in 1986, I was happy to reacquaint myself with them – this time under snow.
We agreed to meet at the tiny hamlet of Kilfinnan, at the eastern end of Loch Lochy, where there’s room for a small number of cars.
The plan was to do the first 3km on bikes along the forest track that at first shares the Great Glen Way.
After a kilometre the track splits, with the Great Glen Way staying near Loch Lochy while a higher branch runs parallel to it through the trees.
In another 2km from the track junction, a path to the right climbs up alongside the Allt Glas Dhoire to reach Cam Bhealach, a high notch between the two Munros, Meall na Teanga and Sron a’ Choire Ghairbh. Each can be climbed in turn from here with a return along the outward route back to Kilfinnan.
With the days lengthening, we reckoned a 9am start would be early enough and we set off from Kilfinnan almost bang on target.
The bike ride is uphill at first until the gradient relents for an easier ride to the start of the path up to the bealach.
We left the bikes and began the almost 3km ascent, but with the knowledge that the ride out would be a lot quicker. The burn in the gorge below adds interest to the ascent, and a steady pace brought us to the bealach with the sky clearing to blue and the sun out.
We decided on Meall na Teanga first and began climbing up a path – not shown on the 1:50,000 map – to round the intervening hill, Meall Dubh, and land on a flat bealach between it and Meall na Teanga.
The northern slope of the Munro was still plastered in snow with a small cornice on the lip of the ridge leading to the summit.
Ice axes and crampons at the ready, we angled up the steepening slope through relatively soft snow, the crampons preventing any backward slides to make the ascent easier.
On the summit ridge the snow became harder, frozen by the wind, and in 500 metres we reached the cairn, agreeing that this was turning out to be an excellent hill day.
The view north, in the direction of Cluanie and Kintail, was of a line of snowy peaks lit by the sun. In the foreground lay the hills of Glengarry Forest and the through route to Loch Garry – great backpacking territory for anyone wanting a multi-day trip.
Knowing we still had another Munro to climb we set off down and took a break before the rigours of Sron a’ Choire Ghairbh, the higher of the two hills at 935 metres.
A group of eight people we had seen reach the top arrived at the bealach and headed on back along the upward path, happy with one hill.
We set off along the stalker’s path that zigzags up the hillside and allows quick progress. It reaches a shoulder on the long ridge stretching east, back towards Kilfinnan, from where a final push is made west to the summit.
Again the view is extensive, with the Corbett of Ben Tee standing out in the north-east.
However, as is increasingly the case now, the panorama is blighted by the turbines of the Millennium wind farm, soon to be an even bigger blot on the landscape with an approval granted for more turbines.
My disgust grows every time I see these wind factories and I fear greatly for the future of Scotland’s landscape as their spread increases.
Turning to descend, a view of Ben Nevis, clothed completely in white, drew the eye beyond Meall na Teanga.
We made our way carefully down the steep slopes to Cam Bhealach and back to the bikes for a speedy ride to the cars.
Bill had notched up two Munros and he hailed the day as one of the best he’d had in a while.
